Are you choosing between nearshore vs offshore outsourcing? Both options have their significant pros and cons, so making a decision may take some serious effort. We’ll try to ease the task for you and give all the essential data in this article. 

So, let’s find out the difference between nearshore and offshore software development, their advantages, disadvantages, and the guiding principles at play while choosing one over the other. 

However, before we get to it, let us have a better understanding of the big picture, i.e., why should a business opt for outsourcing in the first place?

Outsourcing Software Development: a Win-Win Arrangement for Clients and Vendors

Outsourcing, like any other business decision, comes with its bag of benefits and drawbacks. In this section, let’s highlight the parameters on which the derived benefits greatly offset its perceived drawbacks.

Cost savings and reduced administrative overheads

There is no argument about the fact that nearshore vs offshore outsourcing both result in cost savings. It gives you access to a large pool of skilled software professionals who demand less than half the rate you would typically pay an American developer.

Hiring and training an in-house team also requires scaling up your office space, providing other logistics, provisions for salary and benefits, and allowing them time to sync with the office environment before they can start delivering. Outsourcing allows you to bypass all of these since your tech partner already has all the logistical requirements in place and has a trained workforce that can start delivering from day one.

Talent availability

If a particular type of IT specialist isn’t available or a programming language isn’t so popular in your area, an offshore specialist or team may bring immense value to your project. Relocation is troublesome and expensive, and outsourcing is a much easier solution.

Quality delivery

While selecting your outsourcing partner, you entrust skilled professionals with your projects. They have years and decades of experience and can get it right the first time while keeping up with the quality standards. 

On one hand, it ensures you get quality work delivered, and on the other hand, it saves you time, cost, and effort in building that capability in-house by conducting extensive recruitment drives and interviewing people on skills you know little about.

Despite the benefits, outsourcing comes with its own set of challenges, but they are specific to the type of outsourcing you consider. In the next sections, let’s examine nearshore vs offshore outsourcing in greater detail and analyze the pros and cons of each.